Ohio Northern University’s Center for Democratic Governance and Rule of Law will hold a panel discussion on “Human Rights In the Time of Ebola: Public Health vs. Individual Freedom” in the Pettit College of Law’s Celebrezze Moot Courtroom on Thursday, Sept. 11, at 7 p.m.
The Ebola crisis in Africa raises ancient fears and historic dilemmas over the protection of the public from devastating diseases and the rights of individual citizens to be free from government coercion. A panel of ONU law and pharmacy professors will talk about this conflict in both its historic context and in regard to the real-world health problems created by our highly mobile society. Also a member of the panel will be a Liberian lawyer and ONU LL.M. student who recently arrived form Liberia.
The five-member panel includes ONU Raabe College of Pharmacy professors Natalie DiPietro Mager and Andy Roecker and ONU Pettit College of Law professors Kevin Hill and Jean-Marie Kamatali, and Kanio Gbala from Liberia.
DiPietro Mager and Roecker will discuss the nature of the Ebola virus and the ways it is transmitted. DiPietro Mager, who will speak on the epidemiology of Ebola and the natural history of the disease, has doctor of pharmacy and Master of Public Health (MPH) degree. She is a registered pharmacist in the state of Ohio and is active in several professional and volunteer organizations, holding leadership roles in the Ohio Public Health Association and the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy Public Health Special Interest Group.
Roecker’s area of interest lies in clinical therapeutics, or the treatment of a patient’s diseases and/or disorders using both pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic approaches. Roecker will be discussing contemporary approaches to isolation and quarantine of those with highly infectious diseases.
Hill’s teaching responsibilities include Civil Procedure I and II, Toxicological Liability, and Scientific Evidence and Expert Witnesses. He will talk about America’s experience with handling infectious diseases and public health crises in the the legal context. Hill is a member of the Ohio Bar Association, Kentucky Bar Association, American Bar Association, Law and Science Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
At ONU, Kamatali teaches International Human Rights Law, Legal Issues in Transitional Democracies, and International Comparative NGO Law. His focus will be on the international human rights implications of the actions of the governments in West Africa during the current crisis. Kamatali is the former dean of the law faculty at the University of Rwanda and has served as a consultant for a number of U.S. government institutions, including the Department of Justice and USAID. He also has been a consultant to a number of international organizations, including the World Bank, UNICEF, FAO and Danish Center for Human Rights.
Kanio Gbala is Liberian lawyer who practiced with non-governmental organizations in Liberia. He arrived in Ada in mid-August to join the law college’s LL.M. program in Democratic Governance and Rule of Law. He will be discussing the current situation in Liberia and the challenges the country faces.
